Energy Democracy Media Roundup – Week of February 19, 2018

In Indiana, the wind down of net metering rules means that customers are scrambling for installation; a Kentucky anti-solar bill gains traction, and critics; this Michigan group is pushing a ballot initiative that will get the state to 30% renewable energy soon; and Virginia Democrats deal utility monopoly Dominion a harsh blow in flexing their monopolistic muscle in the state legislature.

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A state law passed last year phases out net metering, and only solar installed by Dec. 31, 2017, was grandfathered in to receive retail rates for energy sent back to the grid through 2047. Anyone who missed the deadline by even a day can only net meter until 2032.

So despite frigid and snowy weather, Burkholder and his employees worked hard — some skipping family vacations — to install as many systems as possible before the end of the year.

“They shoveled the snow off our roof and went right to work, with the temperature around 10 degrees, the windchill zero degrees. It was impressive,” said Joshua Weaver, a Goshen, Indiana, high school math and social studies teacher whose installation was done by Solar Energy Systems on Dec. 30.

In recent media coverage of House Bill 227, we have been told that, from a utility perspective, proposed legislation before the Kentucky General Assembly does not end net-metering as we know it.

“Alternative facts” are not useful in setting public policy and tend to foster division, particularly when this is not a partisan issue.

Under current law, private solar generators receive a credit at the retail rate for any excess solar power they generate and send to the electric grid — a credit that under current legislation can never be cashed in but only used at a later date by the system owner.

Under HB 227, that rate changes to only a few cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). The difference? Roughly a 70 percent decrease in credit for most ratepayers that will most certainly end net metering in Kentucky.

“With over 2,000 megawatts of solar now installed, Massachusetts continues to lead the nation in solar deployment and clean energy innovation,” says Gov. Charlie Baker. “Through our next solar incentive program, SMART, and our forward-thinking solar grant programs, we look forward to doubling that amount of solar and building a sustainable and affordable clean energy future for the commonwealth.”

Massachusetts has ranked second in the U.S. for total solar jobs for the last two years and ranks sixth in the nation for new installed solar capacity.

Michigan electric providers would be required to produce at least 30 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2030 under a potential ballot proposal organizers hope to put before voters this fall.

A group called Clean Energy, Healthy Michigan is preparing to launch a petition drive this week for a statutory initiative designed to increase development of solar, wind and other renewable energy sources.

Dominion Energy, the utility monopoly in Virginia, suffered a rare loss on the floor of the state House of Delegates late Monday night, when their ability to double-charge ratepayers for infrastructure improvements was stripped out of a controversial bill.

The bill, which sailed through the Senate and is expected to pass the House of Delegates on Tuesday, would let Dominion and other utilities in the state use excess profits to pay for the upgrades, like modernization of the energy grid or renewable generation. Because Dominion could also use those upgrades as a rationale to increase its base power rates, critics charged that utilities could get ratepayers to pay twice for the same infrastructure. Virginia’s State Corporation Commission and the state Office of the Attorney General agreed.

Senate populists tried to put a restriction on the double-dipping in their version of the bill, but lost. But the House of Delegates, with all 49 Democrats joining six Republicans, were successful in passing such an amendment in the 100-member chamber.

California

Last year, Ventura and Los Angeles counties took a huge step forward in creating energy choices when we joined with dozens of local cities to create the Clean Power Alliance of Southern California. Since, 28 jurisdictions have signed on to offer cleaner, greener and cheaper energy to communities throughout Southern California. We are not the first local California governments to embrace the promise of what is known as community choice aggregation.

Connecticut

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has finalized the state’s 2018 Comprehensive Energy Strategy (CES), and recommended doubling the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to 40% by 2030.

The new renewables goal is a significant step up and higher than previously considered. State law currently sets the RPS at 20%, and the draft CES released last year had suggested a smaller increase to 30%.

Indiana

A state law passed last year phases out net metering, and only solar installed by Dec. 31, 2017, was grandfathered in to receive retail rates for energy sent back to the grid through 2047. Anyone who missed the deadline by even a day can only net meter until 2032.

So despite frigid and snowy weather, Burkholder and his employees worked hard — some skipping family vacations — to install as many systems as possible before the end of the year.

“They shoveled the snow off our roof and went right to work, with the temperature around 10 degrees, the windchill zero degrees. It was impressive,” said Joshua Weaver, a Goshen, Indiana, high school math and social studies teacher whose installation was done by Solar Energy Systems on Dec. 30.

Kentucky

But the bill itself wasn’t his point, Wayne told his fellow lawmakers. Earlier this week he called the move to add three members mid-session to the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee “part of an insidious malignancy that can infect a democracy.”

Sometimes called the conscience of the Kentucky General Assembly, Wayne took the House floor to say that “this is the people’s body. We must be respectful of the people that we represent, all the citizens of the Commonwealth. The rules are set, we follow the rules, we follow the established committee system.

“To change the system midstream which could, in turn, tilt votes in a certain direction is not right.”

The Kentucky House Natural Resources Committee has advanced a controversial bill that would scale back Kentucky’s solar net metering program, making it eligible for a vote from the full Kentucky House of Representatives.

About 1,000 households in Kentucky with rooftop solar panels put extra energy back onto the power grid through Kentucky’s net metering program.

In recent media coverage of House Bill 227, we have been told that, from a utility perspective, proposed legislation before the Kentucky General Assembly does not end net-metering as we know it.

“Alternative facts” are not useful in setting public policy and tend to foster division, particularly when this is not a partisan issue.

Under current law, private solar generators receive a credit at the retail rate for any excess solar power they generate and send to the electric grid — a credit that under current legislation can never be cashed in but only used at a later date by the system owner.

Under HB 227, that rate changes to only a few cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). The difference? Roughly a 70 percent decrease in credit for most ratepayers that will most certainly end net metering in Kentucky.

Maryland

A pair of bills introduced this week – Senate Bill (SB) 732 and House Bill (HB) 1453 – would double the state’s renewable energy ambition by requiring that utilities procure 50% of their electricity from renewables by 2030, a major increase on the current mandate of 25% by 2020. This includes a significant increase in the solar carve-out, from 2.5% to 5.5% next year and rising to 14.5% by 2028.

Massachusetts

“With over 2,000 megawatts of solar now installed, Massachusetts continues to lead the nation in solar deployment and clean energy innovation,” says Gov. Charlie Baker. “Through our next solar incentive program, SMART, and our forward-thinking solar grant programs, we look forward to doubling that amount of solar and building a sustainable and affordable clean energy future for the commonwealth.”

Massachusetts has ranked second in the U.S. for total solar jobs for the last two years and ranks sixth in the nation for new installed solar capacity.

Michigan

Michigan electric providers would be required to produce at least 30 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2030 under a potential ballot proposal organizers hope to put before voters this fall.

A group called Clean Energy, Healthy Michigan is preparing to launch a petition drive this week for a statutory initiative designed to increase development of solar, wind and other renewable energy sources.

Minnesota

Nationwide, U.S. solar energy industry employment fell by 4 percent or 9,800 jobs, according to a report released Wednesday by The Solar Foundation. It was the first decline since The Solar Foundation began tracking jobs in 2010.

Total U.S. solar employment was 250,271 last year, with the majority of those jobs in installation.

In Minnesota last year, solar employment grew 48 percent, hitting 4,256 jobs, according to The Solar Foundation. Only Delaware had a larger growth rate: 51 percent. “Minnesota was one of our brightest states in 2017,” said Avery Palmer, a spokesman for The Solar Foundation.

As of November, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Minnesota’s community solar program had more than 100 projects totaling 170 MW of capacity.

“Minnesota’s program is the best in the country,” Farrell wrote in a blog piece touting the program in November . “There 10 times more community solar projects in the queue — 400 MW — in Minnesota than have been built in the history of community solar in the United States (outside Minnesota).”

New Hamsphire

They were supporting the Ready for 100% Renewable Energy Campaign, a goal-driven initiative coming out of Concord’s Energy and Environment Committee that would strive to have the city operating on 100 percent renewable energy by 2050.

It’s a goal that’s been acknowledged as ambitious by Ward 5 Councilor Rob Werner, who chairs the committee, since the campaign kicked off in October. And while how the city would get to that goal is still conceptual at this point, the night’s discussion focused on whether adopting the plan would have immediate impacts.

New York State could be on its way to crafting the most aggressive energy storage goal in the country.

The target is still a work in progress, but based on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) recent announcement and interviews with analysts, it could be set above 1,500 MW by 2030.

“I think the target would be higher than 1,500 MW,” Conor Bambrick, air and energy director at Environmental Advocates of New York, told Utility Dive.

California’s energy storage target is 1,300 MW by 2020. In his state of the state address in early January, Cuomo set a target of 1,500 MW by 2025. But 2030 is the target year that will be established by New York’s current energy storage bill, to keep it on the same track as the state’s 50% renewables goal in its Clean Energy Standard.

Under pressure from local advocates, the New York Power Authority (NYPA) says it will take a second look at plans for a 16-MW Albany microgrid project to see if it can incorporate renewable energy.

As originally conceived the Albany microgrid would use combined heat and power (CHP) to supply 90 percent of the power, as well as heating and cooling, for the 10 buildings at Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza.

Puerto Rico

Hurricane María was a total catastrophe for the people of Puerto Rico. But “Hurricane PREPA”, a man-made disaster, left 3.4 million American citizens without power, and without hope. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and the government of Puerto Rico are not just financially broke — their credibility is also long gone.

The notorious, and self-inflicted, Whitefish debacle destroyed the credibility of the government of Puerto Rico. After Maria made landfall, PREPA failed to activate existing “mutual aid agreements” with other public and investor-owned electric companies. Instead, they opted to sign a shady $300 million contract with Whitefish, an unknown, two employee company from Montana.

Utah

A bill to puts into law a complicated compromise eked out among the solar industry, clean energy advocates and Rocky Mountain Power on rooftop solar tax credits cleared a legislative committee Wednesday.

Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, is sponsoring SB141 to institutionalize what he described as a “grand compromise” among the players in an intense and protracted battle shaping the destiny of rooftop solar systems in Utah.

Legislation passed in 2014, implemented in rules that took effect in 2016, reduced slightly the rates utilities are required to pay for power from customers who have installed solar-electric systems and are sending power back to the grid.

The result of that and other rules changes was that “Vermont saw its first-ever decline in customer solar installations,” Renewable Energy Vermont said. “Community solar” projects, in which customers with unsuitable home sites chip in to support solar installations elsewhere, saw the biggest decline, the industry group said.

Virginia

A majority of Democrats running for Congress this year in Virginia — 21 as of Tuesday — have agreed to a pledge not to take campaign money from Dominion Energy or Appalachian Power Co.

In addition, six other Democratic candidates have publicly pledged not to take money from Dominion or not to take corporate PAC money, according to Activate Virginia, the group that coordinated the pledge.

It coincides with a national effort to persuade politicians to stop taking money from the fossil fuel industry. Last year, two candidates for lieutenant governor and 74 candidates for House of Delegates took the pledge, 13 of whom were elected.

The far-reaching legislation shifts Virginia to what Dominion calls a “reinvestment model” that lets the company keep millions in earnings that would otherwise be returned to customers in exchange for investments in grid upgrades and renewable energy, among other spending, over the next decade.

Supporters bill it as a way to transform the state’s electrical grid to match a shift in the utility industry that better incorporates solar, wind and battery storage and hardens the system against storms and cyberattacks. The legislation has a host of bells and whistles, including a push for expensive programs to put distribution and transmission lines underground, $200 million in credits for Dominion customers for past overpayments, and about $1 billion in energy efficiency investments.

Dominion Energy, the utility monopoly in Virginia, suffered a rare loss on the floor of the state House of Delegates late Monday night, when their ability to double-charge ratepayers for infrastructure improvements was stripped out of a controversial bill.

The bill, which sailed through the Senate and is expected to pass the House of Delegates on Tuesday, would let Dominion and other utilities in the state use excess profits to pay for the upgrades, like modernization of the energy grid or renewable generation. Because Dominion could also use those upgrades as a rationale to increase its base power rates, critics charged that utilities could get ratepayers to pay twice for the same infrastructure. Virginia’s State Corporation Commission and the state Office of the Attorney General agreed.

Senate populists tried to put a restriction on the double-dipping in their version of the bill, but lost. But the House of Delegates, with all 49 Democrats joining six Republicans, were successful in passing such an amendment in the 100-member chamber.

Wisconsin

Heart of the City and Sustain Jefferson, nonprofit community service groups that encourage sustainable development, are working with Midwest Renewable Energy Association to organize a solar group buy in and around Jefferson County called Glacial Heritage Solar between January and August 2018.

A solar group buy enables interested residential and commercial consumers in a designated geographic area to access volume discounts through choosing to purchase solar electric systems during the designated period of time. The more participants, the lower the cost of power will be for everyone.

For many U.S. utilities, the threat is real and growing. Between 2018 and 2022, U.S. distributed solar installations will grow from today’s roughly 2.0 million to almost 3.8 million, according to GTM Research. Behind-the-meter battery storage is forecast to grow in that period from around 200 MW to nearly 1,400 MW. And EVs will go from today’s 1% of new car sales to over 50% by 2035, Energy Innovation reckons.

Few utilities are seeing DER penetrations today that threaten reliability or revenues. But most are beginning to prepare, entering regulatory discussions about grid modernization, DER compensation and other associated issues. Even Duke Energy, which has relatively low DER penetrations today, is planning for its future growth.

The undisputed leader is Norway, where fully 35 percent of new vehicles sold in 2017 — and 52 percent of those sold in December alone — were EVs.

Looking at Norway’s figures, one might believe that EVs are on a fast track to upend the century-long reign of fossil fuels as the dominant vehicular power source. That may very well be the case in Norway, where almost all electricity is generated from hydropower, EVs are exempted from most taxes, and their owners enjoy a range of benefits that can be worth thousands of dollars a year, including free recharging and use of toll roads along with free or subsidized parking. But what about the rest of the world? Experts’ predictions are truly all over the map.

It has often been said the best conservation method is high prices. On Tuesday, the EIA published an article that would seem to bolster that argument, at least in part.

While states such as Hawaii, Alaska and Connecticut lead the nation in residential electricity prices, South Carolina, Alabama and Maryland were in the top tier in terms of residential expenditures per customer, due to high electricity usage. Connecticut has the distinction of being third in terms of both electricity prices (20 cents/kWh) and expenditures.

The average residential electricity customer in South Carolina spent $1,753 for electricity in 2016. Annual household expenditures in Alabama, Connecticut and Maryland were $1,747, $1,706 and $1,698, respectively.

Nick Stumo-Langer was Communications Manager at ILSR working for all five initiatives. He ran ILSR's Facebook and Twitter profiles and builds relationships with reporters. He is an alumnus of St. Olaf College and animated by the concerns of monopoly power across our economy.

About the Author

Nick Stumo-Langer was Communications Manager at ILSR working for all five initiatives. He ran ILSR's Facebook and Twitter profiles and builds relationships with reporters. He is an alumnus of St. Olaf College and animated by the concerns of monopoly power across our economy.